"The Koss Porta Pro headphones are one of the most iconic and popular designs in the history of audio equipment. The headphones were first released in 1984 in response to the rise of the Sony Walkman and aimed to translate the company's audio prowess into a portable, affordable form factor. The results were unmistakably odd. The collapsible headband, blue driver housings and striking shape meant you could spot them from a mile away."
"But Koss managed to deliver its trademark warm, bassy sound signature into an accessible product, and its retro-futuristic industrial design has never quite gone out of style. Koss, which is still a family-run business headquartered in Milwaukee, sold the Porta Pro virtually unchanged for decades. At under $50, they remained a great option for on-the-go listening. But with the demise of the smartphone headphone jack, eventually a modern wireless update was an obvious move."
"Unfortunately, Koss's first attempt in 2018 was a whiff. Despite coming after Apple's AirPods made their debut, the wireless Porta Pro relied on a cable that housed an inline remote and a battery that rested on the wearer's neck. Between the awkward wearability and a persistently flashing blue LED, the feedback was generally scathing. But recently, I found out that Koss released a radically updated version around a year ago, dubbed the Porta Pro Wireless 2.0."
The Koss Porta Pro originated in 1984 as an affordable portable headphone to complement the Walkman era, featuring a collapsible headband, blue driver housings, and a distinctive shape. The design and Koss's warm, bassy sound signature made the model popular and enduring, and the family-run Milwaukee company sold it virtually unchanged for decades at under $50. The removal of the smartphone headphone jack prompted a wireless version in 2018, but that model used a neck-worn battery and inline remote and received poor feedback. Around a year ago Koss released the Porta Pro Wireless 2.0, a substantially updated model that received minimal mainstream coverage.
Read at Fast Company
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